Electric computer games, Beast Mastery hunting and obscure references

PART TWO: The Horde

Continuing from where we left off before, I continue to document Durkon’s thoughts on the races and factions of Azeroth (and sometimes beyond!).

Orcs of OrgrimmarI have mixed feelings about the Orcs. It would be easy to simply hate them, but my encounters with Warchief Thrall have left me somewhat confused. It seems to me that some Orcs are honourable folk and others are bloodthirsty barbarians who torture and maim for their own amusement. It seems wrong somehow to condemn an entire race because of the actions of some, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive them for what they did to my lady Alexstrasza the Dragonqueen and her flight during the second war. I do not know how she finds it within herself to permit Orcs to enter Wyrmrest Temple. Elune only knows what would happen if that maniac Garrosh Hellscream was in charge instead of Thrall, heh.

Tauren of Thunder BluffIt’s probably not really appropriate to say this, but I actually quite like the Tauren. Spiritual but strong, gentle in peace and crushingly determined in war (I should know). Where orcs tend to fly off the handle and erupt into screaming rage quite easily, a Tauren warrior on the battlefield maintains a grim intelligence. He or she will smash you to pieces – most Tauren are pretty strong – but will probably regret the necessity of it later on. Their hunters are pretty capable sorts. Seems a shame that the Orcs were there to help them instead of, say, the Dwarves.

Undead Abominations Forsaken of the Shattered Remains of Lordaeron UndercityI should get something straight: I don’t hate them because they are undead (it doesn’t help though), or because they once served the scourge (against their will). I did once, but a brief encounter with a priest at Light’s Hope chapel solved that for me. Now, I hate them – Forsaken of the Undercity – because of who they are. By the Light, they sat there in that ruined city developing a plague designed to kill everything in Azeroth apart from them! They freed themselves from the Lich King’s grasp and turned their hatred on everything and everyone for daring to avoid being scourged. Maybe there are some exceptions but right now, I don’t care too much. At least they hate the scourge a little bit more than the rest of us, that’s useful.

Trolls of…. uh, the ones in the HordeHonestly, I don’t know much about these Trolls as opposed to all the others. There are so many of them, all in different tribes with different rules. I’ve fought alongside and against Trolls ever since I left Dun Morogh and I don’t really know in which way the horde’s tribe varies from the rest of them. They all seem to share an obsession with “The Voodoo” and “Mojo”, which I suspect are probably their interpretations of the arcane and natural magics experienced by the rest of us. I really haven’t had enough exposure to them to say anything definitive.

Blood Elves of Silvermoon
Well, Blood Elves… The Sin’dorei strike me as arrogant, selfish and prideful. They are addicted to arcane magic, but unlike the Draenei they abuse it, falling into corruption, insanity and destruction. It is rumoured that Sin’dorei blood knights syphoned their power from a captured, magically bound naaru, hardly the mark of a people I’d want to get to know. Confusingly, the Blood Elves who destroyed the Draenei’s city-ship Exodar are the same Blood Elves that are resident in Silvermoon, but they weren’t members of the Horde. At the time, they were all led by Prince Kael’thas except that the Silvermoon Blood Elves didn’t serve the betrayer Illidan Stormrage. It makes very little sense to me.

Again, there are personal exceptions to my general condemnation. Klinderas, formerly prominent in the Hunter’s Guild was a good man. A little prideful but his heart seemed to be in the right place.

While I’ve spoken before about Humans and their ability to get themselves (and everyone else) into trouble, it seems far more likely that the final ultimate apocalypse will be the responsibility of the Sin’dorei, no doubt due to their incessant meddling with the Arcane in a bid to increase their own personal power. When Malygos decided to kill everyone before our abuse of arcane power destroyed the world, he must’ve mistaken the Sin’dorei for the rest of us.

(Note: Once or twice while levelling, Durkon had a Tauren help – or at least stay clear of things he needed to kill. Every time a hordie inconvenienced him or stood there and /laughed while he got killed? Blood Elf. Circumstantial, but it’s quite enough to shape a Dwarf’s opinions).